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Sunday, 28 August 2016

Instarecipe! Honey Nut and Fruit Granola

Knee deep surrounded by countless boxes, it's safe to say that I'm very nearly packed and well on my way to university life with less than a week to go until the big move in day. As you would assume, I am a bit nervous with what to expect but I'm also so excited to see what this next step in my life brings (sorry for the cheesy cliche but it's true!)

I'm probably going to be way more equipped when it comes to the kitchen departement of things compared to most students, as it's just so hard for me to keep my beloved pots, cookbooks and food styling props to a bare minimum. (I think my room is going to be a bit cramped to say the least.) That said, I'm going to a uni with a massive food college so I'm sure that I'll be living near someone who is just as into cooking as I am.

In preparation of uni life (fresher's to start), I've made myself a big batch of my old faithful granola. This recipe makes enough to fill one big lock jar, so this is perfect for me to pack off to Birmingham, and BAM that's breakfast sorted for the next few weeks. It's also quite cheap to do too (a vital thing which I'm sure as a new student I will care A LOT about) when you take into account the fact that if you buy a big bag of nuts, dried fruit, seeds etc. you only use like a handful of each so they will last you for at least 3 batches of this bad boy recipe. Then of course simple porridge oats are cheap anyways...

Granola is good. I'd pick this by far over any breakfast cereal and it's simple too. Honey-sweetened with a warm spicy undertone of ginger and cinnamon, bringing out the natural sweetness more, an idea which I adapted from this Cookie and Kate recipe. I pick and mix my nuts and fruit depending on what I have, so it's completely up to you to throw in whatever you want which is why in the ingredients list I have left it a bit vague.

Sorry for just the one photo today but as I was photographing this I also had a full day of packing to do and a birthday cake to deliver (my next blog post by the way).

Note: You may notice that the ingredients for this recipe appears different to the way I normally write measurements, for the simple reason that this is quick and easy to make if you have a cup measurement. That way you can just scoop up your oats etc. and it's also easier to scale up for even greater granola batch production... I'm talking a month's worth of the stuff.

Method

Preheat the oven to 170° C/325° F/ gas 3. Line a large baking tray with baking paper.

Roughly chop all the nuts and place into a large bowl with the oats, salt, ginger, cinnamon, oil and honey. Stir well to evenly coat everything with the honey and oil.

Pour out onto the prepared baking tray and bake in the oven for 22 minutes, stirring halfway through the cooking time to evenly bake the oats. Take the tray out of the oven once everything is a light golden colour. The honey will make the oats harden while cooling.

Let the granola cool in the tray. Chop the dried fruit and scatter over the cooled granola along with the seeds. Mix together and pour into a jar. Stores well for 2 + weeks.